UEFA Tries to Level the Field

Jeré Longman reports in today's New York Times that there is an effort to level the financial playing field in Europe.

Alarmed that more than than half of Europe’s 650 top soccer clubs are reporting operating losses, the governing body of European soccer, UEFA, has instituted a plan known as "Financial Fair Play," in which clubs are permitted to spend only what they take in from soccer revenue. This is intended to eliminate mega-rich owners from pumping their own millions (or billions) into a team - to the detriment of the competition. Such is the case, Longman reports, with England's Manchester City, owned by Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, a member of the royal family of the emirate of Abu Dhabi who has

The plan will phase in over two years and is not without its critics. So we'll have to wait to see if it works.